Judge orders action in Eichholz settlement

Effingham County State Court Judge Ronnie Thompson, after meeting with attorneys and accountants in chambers for about an hour and a half, returned to open court and directed that accountants present him with a letter by Aug. 31 outlining the total monetary sum of the settlement.

Thompson could end up with three different figures: one from the accountants, and one each from the plaintiffs' and Eichholz's lawyers.

Thompson, who is handling the matter after the three local state court judges removed themselves, said he anticipated a fairness hearing by mid-to-late January. That would give potential plaintiffs 90 days to join the class. He stopped short of ruling the parties had a settlement, leaving that determination for later.

Meanwhile, advertisements in the Savannah Morning News and several other dailies will begin running Oct. 1, Thompson said.

Ads must run for four consecutive weeks, the settlement provides.

At issue is a June 1 joint motion for preliminary approval of a settlement in the two class actions.

The proposed settlement calls for each client to receive twice the "actual amounts" of payments made to Eichholz or his associates.

Some disagreement remains over the total sum involved.

In addition, Eichholz agreed to pay an additional 35 percent of the settlement in attorneys' fees.

The settlement appeared to be in jeopardy, according to motions filed by both sides last week.

Plaintiffs' lawyers charged in motions the defendants were balking at the settlement and urged the judge to enforce the earlier agreement.

Eichholz's lawyers accused their counterparts of acting in bad faith.

Both sides expressed satisfaction Thursday at the judge's actions.

"We are very pleased with the judge's ruling today that allows the accountants to proceed unimpeded in their unbiased effort to determine the actual amounts involved,'' said attorney T. Ryan Mock Jr. of Atlanta, who is representing Eichholz.

Attorney Bart Turner, one of the lawyers representing the plaintiffs, said his clients were pleased as well.

"All of our clients, and there were several there (in court), expressed their rejoice the judge has ordered this matter to move forward expeditiously,'' he said.

"We will have all accounting by the end of the month, and we will move forward with the proceedings that were previously agreed to.''